Prison Fellowship® Offers Children's Bibles to Over 140K Families of Incarcerated Men and Women

WASHINGTON, Oct. 27, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- For American children with an incarcerated parent, Christmas can be bittersweet as they are separated from their imprisoned parent—often by more than 100 miles.

Prison Fellowship's Angel Tree brings joy to these children through gifts given by volunteers on behalf of their parent, and this year, an additional offer of good news in English and Spanish: The NIrV Adventure Bible for Early Readers and the NVI Biblia Aventura from Zondervan's children's and Spanish imprints, Zonderkidz and Editorial Vida.

This is the first time Prison Fellowship has been able to offer a free Bible to every one of the Angel Tree families it serves—anticipated to be more than 140,000 families this Christmas season.

"Through the Angel Tree program, this Christmas, we will deliver gifts to over 300,000 children, better connecting children with their incarcerated parent. Through this partnership with Zondervan, we have the opportunity to place a Bible in the hands of hundreds of thousands of children—and what better way to show kids the true meaning of Christmas than to offer them God's word as they open their Angel Tree gifts?" said James J. Ackerman, president and chief executive officer of Prison Fellowship. "We are appreciative of Zondervan, which has partnered with Prison Fellowship to make this possible."

Every Christmas in all 50 states, Angel Tree mobilizes churches to minister to hundreds of thousands of children by delivering a gift and the gospel message on behalf of their incarcerated parents. Last year, the program provided more than 300,000 children with Christmas gifts. Since 1982, Angel Tree has delivered more than 10 million gifts to children on behalf of nearly 4.2 million imprisoned parents.

"Prison Fellowship's Angel Tree program has always been near and dear to the hearts of our team at Zonderkidz," said Annette Bourland, senior vice president of publishing. "To be able to present The Adventure Bible for Early Readers, in English and Spanish, to young readers who will find comfort and strength in God's message for them is a tremendous joy for our team."

Prison Fellowship's Angel Tree is the only nationwide, year-round program that reaches out exclusively to children who have a parent in prison. Through collaborations with local churches and community organizations, hundreds of thousands of children receive a gift each Christmas on behalf of their incarcerated parents. In addition, partner churches meet the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of prisoners' families through year-round ministry, such as camping events and mentoring. For more information on Angel Tree, visit www.angeltree.org.

About Prison Fellowship: Prison Fellowship is the nation's largest outreach to prisoners, former prisoners and their families, and a leading advocate for criminal justice reform.

About Zonderkidz:  Zonderkidz™, the children's division of Zondervan, inspires young lives through imagination and innovation. As a leader in Christian children's communications, it creates products that awaken the hearts and touch the souls of kids under 16. Zonderkidz is also the publisher of the NIrV (New International Reader's Version) Bible translation, the 3rd-grade reading level edition of the NIV. For additional information, please visit www.zondervan.com.

About Editorial Vida:  Editorial Vida, the Spanish division of Zondervan, publishes Spanish Bibles, books, devotionals, and other resources that promote a faithful relationship with Jesus. Vida maintains the largest catalog of Christian products and resources in the Hispanic culture—U.S., Latin America, and abroad. Vida holds the exclusive distribution rights of the NVI (Nueva Versión Internacional)—New International Version of the Bible in Spanish.  For more information please visit www.editorialvida.com.

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SOURCE Prison Fellowship